I was raised on grits...most of my kith and kin going back generations come from Georga, 'Bama, the Okefanokee swamp etc, were raised on grits.
When dad moved the family to the west coast way back, to work in the facturies during WWII my mother was almost in tears because she couldn't find her grits ANYWHERE in "damyankeeville" and our supply was getting pretty low before she got a bag from kin in Atlanta. She was/is a "Rosy the Riveter".
We had hot grits boiled for 15-20 min, butter, salt/pepper/hot sauce, with AND without sugar/honey/cheese(depending on the ration book or swapping), bacon or sausage, eggs snatched from under the hens, and home made toast or fried bread for breakfast,(AND MANY TIMES with raisins or other home dried and chopped fruit), grits left over from breakfast, packed into a tin can and cooled then pushed out and cut into rounds, fried in the mornings bacon grease and whatever else the sitter could scrape up for lunch and grits as a side for dinner. Not at every meal or every day, except for breakfast and lunch.
When my grandaddy died and was buried in Texas, EVERY breakfast at my great uncle Newt and aunt Mary's ranch had a big bowl of hot grits at the ready. Uncle Newt wouldn't tolerate no grits for breakfast, and Aunt Mary wouldn't THINK of not having grits. "Get the grits" would be about the only thing Aunt Mary said everytime we made the 125 mile trip to Delhart from the ranch during that time. I never figured out if that was just her way of saying 'bye or really telling Newt to buy grits.
For many ears Albers quick grits was a staple because of the time constraints of modern day life...Quick grits might not be "pure down home" but I don't mind them any more than I mind my "nukerbox" to cook BOTH quick and "real" grits...one takes 4 minutes and the other 13 for 1 1/2 cups water, 1/3 cut grits.
I call/email up my cousin up in Atlanta when I'm running low and have her send me 5 lbs of course ground grits from a local mill the family has been buying from for as long as I can remember. White grits IS grits...yellow grits is Polenta, but Polenta doesn't taste OR look quit right.
I do my grits only about twice a week now...and a week without grits is a mighty poor week.
Ya'll who never had grits, bacon/sausage and scrambled eggs, and hot buttered biscuits, all covered with sausage gravy and "Loozy-anna" hot sauce, don't know what your missing...'sep maybe a heart attack.
Hummmm...Guess whats for breakfast, Ma�ana...
